De samouraï (Vandersteen comic)/plot
Biggles is in Kyoto, Japan, being hosted by an acquaintance, Commissioner Watanabe. Walking back to his hotel after the party, he spots a burglar jumping out of a shop window and gives chase. The burglar escapes and Biggles helps the local police question the shop owner. Mrs Shinzo, the wife of the proprietor, tells them nothing has been stolen. Once in a while the shop might stock genuine and expensive antiques but mostly they sell curios and souvenirs for tourists. Biggles notices a statue of a samourai. Mrs Shinzo tells him that is indeed one of the genuine and expensive antiques but she also has cheaper copies of the statue in the shop. On his flight back to London, Biggles is seated with English tourists Rupert Drummond and his wife. Mrs Drummond cannot resist showing Biggles an antique which her husband had paid a lot for: it's the samurai! On arrival at London Airport, a snatch thief tries to grab the parcel containing the samurai from Mrs Drummond. Biggles takes a flying leap at the thief and brings him down. But the criminal manages to break free and run off leaving the parcel behind. Biggles calls on Colonel Raymond at Scotland Yard and is surprised to find Commissioner Watanabe there. He has come to seek the assistance of the British police in a case concerning the smuggling of jewels from Japan to England. But there is little to go on as yet so Raymond tells Biggles he can have a few days' break. Biggles visits his new friends the Drummonds and meets their daughter Priscilla and her governess Diana Temple. That night, Diana is awakened by a noise and bumps into a burglar, Parson, in the house. The intruder is armed but Diana pretends to swoon and knocks over a table. The noise alerts Biggles and Rupert Drummond, forcing Parson to flee. Parson's gang boss, Fergas, is unhappy with his failed burglary but gives him another chance and this time he succeeds--kidnapping Priscilla while she is out shopping with Diana. The Drummonds receive the ransom demand: one of them is to meet at the harbour at midnight with the statue of the samurai! Diana feels guilty about losing Priscilla and goes against Parson's instructions and calls Biggles. Diana goes to the harbour at the appointed time with the samurai statue. Biggles and some plain clothes policemen are watching under cover. The exchange is made and Parson is about to release Diana and Priscilla--but then a stray cat meows which causes Parson to turn around and he spots Biggles' shadow. Parson thinks he has been betrayed and knocks Diana down and drags Priscilla away. Priscilla breaks free and climbs up a ladder. Unfortunately it leads to a dead end--the control cabin of a crane. Parson comes up after her and she is recaptured again. More police arrive and Biggles calls to Parson to surrender as he is completely surrounded but Parson ignores him. He nervously waits for his gang boss to come to his rescue and he finally sees a car approach and stop near a boat. He recognises it as Fergas' car and signals to it. Fergas and his men board a boat and cruise slowly towards the crane. Meanwhile Parson moves the cabin along the rails until it hangs over the river. He plans to jump into the water with the samurai statue and Priscilla so that the boat can pick them up. However Biggles has not been idle. He has climbed up onto the roof of the cabin and has seen what is going on. Priscilla sees him and gets herself ready. The boat is almost underneath and Parson prepares to jump. He grabs Priscilla but she puts up a violent struggle. Biggles jumps through a skylight right on cue and disarms Parsons but the kidnapper breaks free and dives down into the river. Biggles would have followed but Priscilla clings on to him out of fear and doesn't let go. Back at the gang's hideout, Parson congratulates himself on his narrow escape, but Fergas isn't so happy: Parson has taken the wrong Samurai! For the Drummonds, the ordeal is over, or so it seems, but they now have a surprise visitor: Mr Shinzo from Kyoto. He tells them his wife had sold them the wrong statue. It was a cheap imitation. The Drummonds had paid a lot of money for the genuine item so he has brought it personally to them from Japan! The Drummonds are horrified. Not that statue! They ask Shinzo to take it away. But Biggles tells Shinzo that the police would be interested. What is it about the statue that Parsons would try so hard to get hold of it, resorting to housebreaking and kidnapping? Shinzo tells Biggles the samuria is not so valuable as the legend behind it: it had been made by a diamyo (feudal lord) who wanted one of his faithful samurai warriors to come back after death to continue to protect him. Meanwhile, Biggles gets a call from Raymond. The police have found the body of Parson--obviously executed by Fergas for his failure. Parson has been identified and traced to a diamond smuggling gang which have all been picked up--all except the boss Fergas who has escaped the dragnet. This warning is timely, for just a few moments later, Fergas steps into the room and holds the company up with a gun--how convenient that Shinzo has brought the genuine statue. Fergas unscrews the head of the statue and out pours a fortune in diamonds. He explains that his gang had great difficulty smuggling the gems out of Japan. So one of his people broke into a souvenir shop and hid the jewels inside the samurai statue. The tourist who bought it would helpfully and innocently take it out of Japan for them. Fergas is pleased to get the loot but Biggles has crossed him once too many times and he plans to execute him. Just then right arm of the statue springs upwards and the sword in its hand cuts Fergas in the palm. He collapses and dies. Biggles is puzzled but Shinzo provides the explanation. The samurai statue was made during a era of great upheaval. The shoguns lived under constant strife. The statue had a poisoned sword blade and was probably intended as a "gift" for a rival. For Biggles this is a great relief. The statue, the source of their trouble, had saved them after all. Biggles can now look forward to a few days of peaceful vacation. But no! Colonel Lottison, his boss at the International Air Police calls him with another urgent assignment. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)